Small factions of the village are jumping into to the flower show preparations with some gusto.
When I was out walking the dogs I spied the sprightly form of octogenarian Mrs A waving frantically from her bungalow garden.
She rather shyly ushered me inside to show me a photograph she thought she might enter in the art class and asked me to try some ginger cake which was wonderful. When I told her so, she cackled with glee and promised to enter it and her photo into Saturday's show.....result
Around a corner I encouraged Mrs W to enter her own hen eggs into the "boiled egg" section of the domestic classes and further on Mr H came out of his house to quiz me on why the flower show prize money was so low! (I did explain that the committee's remit was to provide money for village causes!).
I picked up the notice boards to display the childrens' art work and Jenny from the now almost closed post office donated much of her old stationary stock in order for us to display it when I called in to buy my daily diet coke, which was very kind of her)
I then called in to a red faced Sylvia (the show secretary) and caught her in full cake making mode. Every corner of her kitchen seemed to have cooling sponge cakes steaming away on one surface or another and I am sure that her blood pressure was rocketing away quite nicely amid the organised chaos.
Tonight I will do my share of baking , for the refreshments on the big day... by 10pm I am expecting my blood pressure to be soaring nicely too...I have not slept since Tuesday night .
The Flower Show Rival and field animal updates
I was at the village Garage yesterday when I spied a yellow flyer on the counter. In bold loud letters, it advertised a scarecrow festival in a neighbouring village on Saturday- THE DAY OF OUR FLOWER SHOW!
Compared to our 1950's style show, this festival day seems to be offering everything to the festival going public!- free runners (!),a moterbike display team, Morris dancers, amusements, wood carving and trade stands!!!( to name but a few attractions)......I wonder just how many people will be more attracted by the "glitz" of it all rather than the staid old fashioned nature of our show.....hummmm we shall see!!!!
I am working nights tonight and tomorrow morning I have to drive to Mold to pick up the noticeboards , so we can exhibit the village school childrens' art work in the Hall on Saturday. We still have not had any of the school winners cups returned as yet, so will have nothing to present on the day......oh the trauma and worries of organising a village show.......
Anyhow,I have had a few queries about Boris' condition. So this morning I snapped a few photos when I was feeding the animals. Boris IS better, that's for sure, but he is NOT his old self. He remains slower and not as bright as he used to be, and seems to get tired more often. During the afternoons , I now catch him sitting down , resting in the grass and I am sure his appetite remains somewhat variable, so the big guy is not out of the woods yet, but he is miles better than he used to be.
This morning I sat with him for 20 minutes and we shared my bagel side by side watching the field birds wake up, it was a nice turkey/man bonding moment with me humming "lord of the dance" and Boris snorting snotty gasps through his snood!.
I noticed that one of my oldest hens (the last one of the four "andrews" sisters) has "gone light".
Compared to our 1950's style show, this festival day seems to be offering everything to the festival going public!- free runners (!),a moterbike display team, Morris dancers, amusements, wood carving and trade stands!!!( to name but a few attractions)......I wonder just how many people will be more attracted by the "glitz" of it all rather than the staid old fashioned nature of our show.....hummmm we shall see!!!!
I am working nights tonight and tomorrow morning I have to drive to Mold to pick up the noticeboards , so we can exhibit the village school childrens' art work in the Hall on Saturday. We still have not had any of the school winners cups returned as yet, so will have nothing to present on the day......oh the trauma and worries of organising a village show.......
Anyhow,I have had a few queries about Boris' condition. So this morning I snapped a few photos when I was feeding the animals. Boris IS better, that's for sure, but he is NOT his old self. He remains slower and not as bright as he used to be, and seems to get tired more often. During the afternoons , I now catch him sitting down , resting in the grass and I am sure his appetite remains somewhat variable, so the big guy is not out of the woods yet, but he is miles better than he used to be.This morning I sat with him for 20 minutes and we shared my bagel side by side watching the field birds wake up, it was a nice turkey/man bonding moment with me humming "lord of the dance" and Boris snorting snotty gasps through his snood!.
I noticed that one of my oldest hens (the last one of the four "andrews" sisters) has "gone light".
Going light is an odd syndrome that older hens can go through. Despite being fed correctly, wormed and well treated, these old hens just lose their appetites and slowly fade away to nothing.
She now weighs next to nothing and because she is weak the bullying from the other , more aggressive hens has now started.
I have now set her up into her own little house with food, water and peace. She can see the other hens through a piece of chicken wire but can no longer be bullied by them. I suspect she will eventually die within the next week or so.
The junior cockerels from my spring hatching have had their flight feathers trimmed and have been set up in the Ghost hen's coop. I will be advertising them " free to good home" but suspect that they will have to be eventually culled.
Meanwhile the ghost hens have been set up in their , more robust permanent and more stylish coop, which they have taken to with an emotion bordering on silent glee!
Meanwhile the ghost hens have been set up in their , more robust permanent and more stylish coop, which they have taken to with an emotion bordering on silent glee!I have a huge amount of affection for these fat girls.Unlike the "normal" hens who constantly bicker and fight, the ghost hens remain slow moving, benign and good natured. I can sit right in the centre of them without them battering an eyelid and all will lumber up and gaze up at me with their interested but sad little piggy eyes....I wonder what,(if anything) they could be thinking
Winnie and Jo have started to "honk" when out and about with their constant companions, the magpie ducks. They seem so comfortable with each other now, that I will be bunking them up together in the big goose house.....Dan's ducklings when they hatch will then have a duckhouse of their own...............the constant juggling act of who lives just where seems never ending does it?
Winnie and Jo have started to "honk" when out and about with their constant companions, the magpie ducks. They seem so comfortable with each other now, that I will be bunking them up together in the big goose house.....Dan's ducklings when they hatch will then have a duckhouse of their own...............the constant juggling act of who lives just where seems never ending does it?
calon lan
The weather has been atrocious this morning. I am in the process of moving the teenage cockerels into their own run and setting up the Ghost hens into a new more robust hen house. I have come in for a coffee and a dry off before I go out again, and wanted to blog my top desert island discs!. It has been fun picking my favourites
Now I have picked this slightly "odd" overly dark video mainly because it underlines the power of impromptu singing...a thing I would love to be able to do properly if my lack of confidence could be overcome.
Calon Lan is the MOST uplifting of Welsh hymns, ( see this moving previous blog http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2008/08/calon-ln-pure-heart.html it has to be on my desert Island
Lord of the Dance (Christian Hymn)
I have blogged before that my Childhood was made fun and warm by my maternal grandparents and my elder sister Ann.....
However every sunday ( when I was around five or six) Ann would ritualistically "abuse me" by forcing me to "perform" for the family!
This performance would comprise of me skipping in a large circle singing "Lord Of the Dance" at the top of my lungs...........................................oh the shame!
Barry Manilow -
I was a melancholy and lonely teenager and didn't play much music in my bedroom when shut away with adolescent hormonal isolation!
I did however get brainwashed into enjoying my twin sister's record collection (David Soul and Barry Manilow----how gay was that?) and to this day I can almost tear up with this emotional romp of Weekend in New England.....get the hankies ready!
ABBA : Mamma Mia
Everyone my age has to have a little Abba on their desert Island......
Mamma Mia, reminds me of my friend filled, hard working, hard partying Spinal Injury, junior Nurse days up at Lodge Moor Hospital in Sheffield.
Thursday nights were Ledmill Night (http://www.leadmill.co.uk/), when a large group of nurses ( and often young rehabilitating patients in their wheelchairs) would party the night away to 1970 and 80 tunes!
Happy, Happy memories
The Big Country
Now I love some pieces of classical music (Georges Bizet: L'Arlésienne-Suite - Farandole is a case in point) but most of my love of classical music comes in the guise of the hidden classics, namely the big movie themes)
Gone With The Wind, The Magnificent Seven, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Out Of Africa...I could bang on for hours on the themes that put a tingle down your spine and that have the ability to lift your spirits within seconds of hearing them...
Jerone Moross theme from The Big Country was inspired by a walk in the New Mexico flatlands and has the ability to make your heart soar
A Chorus Line - Audition
The second piece of "movie tribute" music..is a bit more camp and rather less classical in nature......there are film scene that puncuate periods in your life.........the lobster waving waiters singing "Say a Little Prayer" in My Best Friends wedding....... The Gay Aborigine singing "I will survive" in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and of course this cracking musical audition from the movie A Chorus Line.....lifts my spirits everytime I see it
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